Job cuts to hit north and Wales hardest, says CEBR

Government cutbacks are likely to result in the percentage of unemployment in some areas of the UK being pushed into double figures, according to a new study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The organisation claimed public sector job losses will have a particularly deep impact on some parts of northern England and Wales, with one in ten adults in the worst-affected regions expected to be out of work by 2015.

CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams told BBC News: "Those regions which are currently very dependent on the public sector are likely to suffer a lot more as the public sector gets cut."

He added that public spending in Wales had experienced "massive growth" over the last few years and had reached a level which is "probably unsustainable".

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Earlier in the week, British Chambers of Commerce chief economist David Kern warned that coalition spending cuts could hamper Britain's economic growth "until the middle of the decade".

Posted by Ross George